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We are starting a dynamic parish-wide program that offers a way to explore and deepen our call to discipleship through an engaging small-group process. There will be 7, two hour sessions with a Small Christian Community. Each group will have will have 6 – 10 people based on registration preferences. Each session includes prayer, reflection on Sacred Scripture, inspiring stories of “good news people,” focus on a weekly virtue, and woven through it all, opportunities for sharing in dialogue. The last step will be an immersion experience to witness Christ in action. This is an opportunity to expand your faith wherever you may be on your spiritual journey.
To sign up, contact: Elaine Ricci at 715-671-8123 or [email protected] or
Mary DeFoe at 651-260-9954 or [email protected]
Registration forms can be found below under the "Growing Our Faith Resources" section.
Email, return to the parish office, or drop in the collection basket. -
Growing our faith resources
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Growing our faith meeting minutes
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Growing our faith committee updates
05/2020 Update:
From the past year the committee has spent time collecting and organizing items and activities that need attention in our parishes to grow our church. This year the committee will focus on the prioritized items from the five areas:- Parish Outreach – help to re-engage parishioners and new members
- Social Outreach – engage in the community to be more visible
- Service – helping the marginalized (those in need)
- Social Media – increase communication to parishioners
- Welcoming Environment – provide a welcoming environment to all.
- Engage parishioners in their Catholic Faith.
- To communicate Hope as participants and explore possibilities for a faithful commitment to the gospel to be “good news to the poor”.
- To open hearts to a greater Love by encountering the witness of Jesus.
We have initiated several activities where parishioners can engage. Below are the highlights of current activities that provide opportunities for deepening your faith, and providing hope and love to others.
Small Christian Communities
Last October four Small Christian Communities began the parish-wide Good News People program that offered a way to explore and deepen our call to discipleship. It included 7, two hour sessions in small groups of 6 – 10 people. Each session included prayer, reflection on Sacred Scripture, inspiring stories of “good news people,” focusing on a weekly virtue, and woven through it all, opportunities for sharing in dialogue. The feedback from those involved has been great! It got a 4 1/5 stars out of 5! Below are a few comments from the group participants:- I felt the program was meaningful and prompted discussion that was challenging and pertinent to the participants' lives. A highlight of the program was our immersion experience—a visit to the Cumberland Food Pantry.
- The program is a very good tool to get to know fellow parishioners on a more personal level and I personally gained much respect for those in our small group. The program was very beneficial for my development and reinforced my personal spirituality as well as giving me a direction for further development.
- Being a part of a Grow Our Faith group has given me the environment to strengthen my personal relationship with God and the opportunity to connect on a deeper level with my fellow parishioners, my faith community. I'm grateful.
- Being new to the parish and not knowing many people these small groups provided a comfortable atmosphere to get to know fellow parishioners.
- It provided time for self-reflection and assessment of my faith life and how I can become closer to God and His plan for me.
- I was happy to learn of programs available to people in the community and for opportunities to help others in need.
The last step included an immersion experience to witness Christ in action. At the end of the sessions the groups select a service organization to visit to see others in action. Some of the places visited were: Benjamin House, Cumberland Food Pantry, Turtle Lake Food Pantry, St. Vincents, The Family House Warming Shelter, Northwoods Homeless Shelter, and the Barron County Economic Development Corporation.
For more information, go to the Grow Our Faith Community tab on the ACT Parish website. If you are interested and there has been a voice calling you to do this:
Contact: Elaine Ricci at 715-671-8123 or [email protected] or
Mary DeFoe at 651-260-9954 or [email protected] or
Registration forms found on web site: https://actinfaith.net/growing-our-faith
Email, return to the parish office or drop in the collection basket.
First Family Night in February a Success!
As part of our goals for Parish and Social Outreach, we are looking for ways to bring families together to share family time. The committee decided monthly movie nights would be a good start. 37 people from 9 families joined us for a showing of Frozen 2 at St. Anthony’s hall. Everyone enjoyed popcorn, a bottle of water, and a small candy bar as well as the movie! Thank you to the Greg and Krystal Montgomery and Angela Schug to coordinating this wonderful event.
Comments made during and after our first get together that lead us to declare this success include:- "Thank you for doing this, this was so much fun!"
- "I can't wait until next month... I think I will bake cookies to bring!"
- "How can we donate to future events?"
- And lastly, "I'm buying myself a beanbag for next time so I'm more comfortable!"
Unfortunately, our Safer at Home order caused us to not be able to delayed holding our future Family nights. Once this pandemic is over, we can resume as people will want to gather as they have realized they miss their church community.
Starting a Welcoming Committee
Feedback from our Town Hall in 2017 was that we need to improve the way we welcome new members to our church as well as ensuring we have an ongoing welcoming environment. Currently, we do not have a consistent and active process in all our churches for contacting new members. Therefore, we will establish a Welcoming Sub-committee. We would like to have representatives from all three parishes. Once a subcommittee is formed, the purpose will be to:- Generate ideas to provide a “welcoming environment in our parish”
- Review and revise existing practices for welcoming new people
- Determine what new and ongoing activities should be established to ensure we have a continuing welcoming feeling to our church
- Identify how the practices will be carried out.
If you are interested in participating, contact Elaine Ricci, 715-671-8123 or Mary DeFoe, 651-260-9954.
Reaching out to our Parish through Phone calls
As we are social distancing through the Covid 19 pandemic, people may be feeling lost, sad, disconnected and lonely. There may be members of our church that have needs and they do not know how to reach out for help. We want to let people know we are thinking of them and help may be found by calling the parish office. This is a time where we can help others get by through a simple act of kindness: a phone call.
The Grow Our Faith Community Committee is asking for your help and assistance by reaching out through a phone call. We are specifically asking the CCW Circle Leaders to call through their phone network families within their circles to ensure everyone is safe and sound.
The conversation for the phone call is listed below:- Identify yourself as part of the Act in Faith churches( St Anthony’s, St Ann’s, Sacred Heart) and say “Hello”.
- Ask how people are doing during this time?
- Let them know we are thinking of them.
- Call the church office if you have needs.
- If they have internet access, let them know there is a lot of information on the church website. The caller may want to look at the home page before calling to know what is there.
- Let them know about the streaming of masses and morning/evening online prayers.
- Let them know the church is open for private prayers and devotional aids are available at the back of the church.
- You can schedule private confessions with Father Tom.
03/2020 Update:
2020 Focus of Grow Our Faith Community Committee
The Grow Our Faith Community Committee has been focused on building Small Christian Communities over the last year and will continue to do so. The communities have been a blessing and are rewarding to those involved. If you are interested and there has been a voice calling you to do this, contact Elaine Ricci 715-671-8123 or Mary DeFoe 651-260-9954. We seek your participation and welcome you!
This year the committee will focus on the priority items identified last year to help our church grow. There were five areas identified that need attention in our church: Service, Welcome, Social Outreach, Community Outreach, and Parish Outreach. The Welcoming Sub-committee will be the first to be formed. We would like to have representatives from all three parishes. Once a subcommittee is formed, the purpose will be to:
Generate ideas to provide a “welcoming environment in our parish”
Review and revise existing practices for welcoming new people
Determine what new activities should be established to ensure we have a continued welcoming feeling to our church
Identify how the practices will be carried out
To participate: contact Elaine Ricci 715-671-8123 or Mary DeFoe 651-260-9954.
05/2019 Update:
The Grow Our Faith Community Committee has continued to meet after the January 6th session with Rich Curran. The goal of this project is to significantly increase active membership in our Catholic Faith Community and to engage more people in the community through outreach. The committee has representatives from each of the cluster parishes which have been reviewing the ideas generated from the January sessions. More information will be available as this project continues to focus in on the top ideas for the coming year.
01/2019 Update:
In January 2019, over 100 cluster members attended the Renew event. Rich Curran and his team delivered a great presentation and helped attendees start the important dialog about how we can help grow our aith community. As we move on from this event, the Growing Our Faith committee looks forward to rfeviewing and organizing the data collected from the event and working with our parishes to achieve goals.
[Meeting Minutes] -
